Turkish security forces arrest 11 FETO terror suspects

By Serdar Acil and Cemil Murat Budak

ANKARA (AA) - At least 11 people with suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, were arrested in an anti-terror operation, authorities said on Friday.

Prosecutors in the capital Ankara issued arrest warrants for 16 suspects as part of a probe into the terror group’s alleged presence in the Turkish Air Forces Command, according to the prosecutor's office.

The suspects are accused of communicating with FETO's "covert imams" -- senior FETO members -- via landline phones, and their links to the terror group were revealed in testimonies of other FETO members.

The Ankara-based operations were held across 10 provinces of Turkey for arresting the suspects -- six of them active-duty military personnel, two retired, three dismissed sergeants, and five "covert imams."

Anti-terrorism police units in Ankara arrested 11 of the suspects.

The FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and 2,734 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

Since the coup attempt, tens of thousands of FETO suspects have been arrested, including many in the armed forces, police, judicial system, and education sector.